Sunday June 8, 1997: 9:30pm
Today was awesome! Hirabayashi-san wanted to take me to see sensei Kitagawa's (my calligraphy teacher) exhibition downtown. I, of course, wanted to go! And we asked Gupta-san if he would like to come along and we'd make it a sightseeing day. So we did.
I met Gupta-san at the Tachikawa station at 11:20 or so, and we headed down to Ueno where we were to meet Hirabayashi-san. We were very late -- we kinda got lost at the Ueno station - that place is huge! So we all made our way over to the Asahi beer building in Asakusa. That's where the exhibition is. The building itself is quite fascinating - it was designed to look like a mug of beer.
Sensei Kitagawa was there, so she showed me around the exhibition. There were about 3 or 4 of her own pieces, and the rest were other artists, including her own teacher's. He is quite famous, so I've heard, and I got to meet him! And then, to top it all off, he gave me one of his works as a gift! Wow! This isn't any old gift - these were selling for 20,000 yen ($240)!! Both Sensei Kitagawa and Hirabayashi-san were telling me how special such a gift was. And it's beautiful! It's got 2 characters on it... "cosmetic" and "fog". Cosmetic fog. That's really neat.
The calligraphy exhibition was fantastic. Sensei was explaining the history to me: there are 5 or 6 different styles, each from a different time period. The older ones seem to be more picture-like, like heiroglyphics almost. And each style uses a different brush. Sensei was saying how the average piece of calligraphy takes about 4 months to complete - potatoes, that's a long time! But that's because everything has to be perfect - if you mess up one character then the whole thing must be redone. There was one that had *800* characters! It was incredible. All in all, I really enjoyed the exhibition.
Next we walked to the Asakusa Tera (Asakusa Temple) which is pretty famous. Hirabayashi-san was telling us taht in 1192 the Shogun ("feudal lord" - head of the Samurai) came there to pray for a good battle. And 300 years ago the emperor also came there to pray for a good battle. So, it's pretty neat. Much bigger than the one in Hino, but no hill.
There was a large vase with smoke coming out of it. Supposedly, if you waft the smoke onto yourself (rub your arms with it and stuff) then it makes you smarter. So we tried it out.
And like the temple in Hino, there is a "wishing well" sort of thing, where you throw a coin in (usually a 5 yen coin, which they call 5 en in this case because it means 5 relationships) and then bow your head and pray. So we did that as well.
Further on inside you can get your fortune. You do this by randomly getting a chopstick-shaped stick from a bunch. On the end of this stick is a number which corresponds to a drawer in the chest in front of you. In that drawer is your fortune. There were about 400 drawers, I think, so this makes your fortune pretty random. Cool!
Apparently there is some kind of festival going on - it was really crowded, and there were quite a few tourists. And it's definitely a great place to go for souvenirs.
For lunch we went and had Udon, and I'm proud to say taht I ate it all with my chopsticks. I have passed the test.
So now we took the tube to Ikebukuro, where Sunshine City is. Sunshine City is a 61 story building... we went to the top, where we payed 620 yen ($7) to take in the view. But just the elevator ride was cool... there was a lady bowing to us when we got on, and when we got off... woah. The view was probably worth the money.. it was better than the places in Shinjuku that Jason and I went to. Hirabayashi-san said that you could probably spend a day just in the Ikeburo area. Or was it just the Sunshine City building?? Hmm.. maybe I'll try that sometime.
Last stop of the day was in Shinjuku - the bookstore. Now this place is amazing - about 8 floors of books. They had half a floor devoted to foreign books, and they had everything! They had my CS130 Pascal Text! And my Algebra 147/245 text! Ack!! And all the magazines you could possibly imagine, but for a steep price... (avg. $12)
So it was a long, but great Sunday! It was really nice of Hirabayashi-san to take us out. I think we may do it again since we had fun. Hey, Gupta-san and I are going to go to Tokyo Disneyland sometime. That'll be cool. Oh, my hand hurts from all that typing yesterday! I was putting this journal on the web - for 5 hours!!
Oh but I went shopping in Tachikawa yesterday, I hate to say it. Man, this is terrible - the Japanese seem to have the exact same taste in clothing as me. NO!! I don't NEED to buy anything. Ah well, I guess I should be happy that _someone_ else likes the funky stuff.
Monday June 9, 1997: just before midnight
Today was crazy. It was rainy and cold. I came home a popsicle from my run. NO ONE was out this morning - not even the golfer guy. I guess the rain really puts them out. My cold made it hard to breathe.
Anyways, it was still raining on the walk to work and I got pretty wet. Ugh. Hirabayashi-san bought my bike today!! It's really cool - a description will follow some other time. Today I have a more important (crazy) story to tell... it's the tale of the ill-fated first Japanese lesson.
As I said, Hirabayashi-san bought my bike, so I thought I would use it to bike to my lesson in Hachioji. Oh, it's still raining pretty hard, but it's a new bike!! Now Hachioji is one station away from the Toyoda station, which is pretty close to my place. So I figure - how hard can it be? I mean, as long as I stay near the subway tracks, I'll be fine! How can I go wrong?
So I leave at around 6, that way I give myself an hour to get there. Surely enough time. But, it's not easy to stay by the tracks, so I settle for roads that go parallel to the tracks... as long as I can see them every once in awhile. So I manage to do this, but it is very hard. And I'm soaking wet because I've given up on the biking-holding-umbrella idea in lieu of speed. Ya know, you can't bike very fast when you can only control one brake. Well, I don't, because I distincly remember the last time that I only used one break, and it hurt. Anyways, now I get to a bridge going over the Asakawa River. Oh oh, it's only for the train. That's fine, I'll just find the pedestrian bridge (which must be close) and cross there, and find my way back to the tracks along the other side of the river. How could I go wrong?
Of course, I can't find a single bridge. So I'm biking along - by now it's dark - wet and miserable, and yes, lost. I admit this fully. Lost, as lost as lost can be. I found a bridge and crossed it, which re-oriented me, but before I could find the tracks again, I was lost. It is then that I realized that a map would've been a usefull thing. So I get lost, but then I find tracks! Yes! I am found! I have 15 mins before my lesson starts - no problem! How could I go wrong?
But I soon find out that they are the _wrong_ tracks (I got lost again, BTW). It's a horrible feeling to get lost when you're already lost. Anyways, I see a station - thank God, it MUST be the Hachioji Station!! But as I approach it I realize that it isn't. The sign says it's the Yamada station.... the *what* station?!?! Where the #@*! is the YAMADA station?? So now I decide that I have to ask somebody because it's 7 o'clock, and I _really_ don't know where I am. So I stop at a Lawson's (7-Eleven type store) and ask a guy in there "Where is the Hachioji station?" He has to think for awhile (a bad sign) and then gets out a map of the area to show me on. Of course, the Hachioji station is OFF the map. But I get the general idea and head out. How could I go wrong?
Finally, I see signs for the station - oh! there it IS!!! It's only 7:45!! Yoiks. And hey - I have a diagram to find the school from the station... but I still can't find the school. Nope, no matter how hard I try, I can't find the damn place. Finally, at 8:05 I see it. Oh! It's RIGHT THERE! I am an hour late. First lesson. SOAKING (I mean not a dry spot on me) What can I say to them but I'm soo, sooo, sorry?!?!
They were very cool about it - more on my lessons will surely come up later... I want to talk about my way home. I decided to have a strategy: stay by the tracks until I get to the Asakawa River. Then, follow the path along thhe river until I get to my running route. From there, I know my way home. Hey, how could I go wrong?
Well, I start out by the tracks, and discover that there's a road that just stays right by the tracks - man! this is easy!! Umm... but after about 10 minutes I begin to get suspicious and realize, hey, I never checked if I started out in the right direction from the station. So I check the diagram of Hachioji and sure enough it dawns on me that I've been heading down the wrong way, *away* from home.
Well potatoes. So I turn around and go back... this time I manage to stay by the tracks until the Asakawa. Yay! Hallelujah!
At this point though, I do something stupid. Instead of staying by the river as I had planned to do, I try a shortcut by crossing the bridge (huh? There's a bridge now... there wasn't one before on my way there. Of course, this doesn't seem a bit odd to me at the time). Did I mention that it's still raining?
So, I get lost. I think I find my way, then I get lost again. This happens over and over again, about 6 or seven times - no joke. Finally, I reach the Toyoda station, which is very close to my house. Now, how could I POSSIBLY get lost now? I don't know, but I did! It took me about 20 minutes from the station to get home, so a grand total of an hour and a half. Well, at least it beats the 2 hours it took to get to Hachioji...
So I'm home, soaked to the bone, but HOME. I decide that I just must take a really hot bath to get my body temp back up because I'm sure that with the rain and my cold, it's probably low. BUT, my fuse blows! Ack! Darkness! Umm - where's that fuse box again? Not like I can see anything... ah, found a switch, flicked it - light! I see light! So after today I think I deserve a round of applause for still being alive! ARGH!!
Tueday June 10, 1997: 10:45pm
Just a few things today since I really babbled in yesterday's entree..
•Email's down. Annoying, it's been down since yesterday. I hate having no mail.
•It wasn't raining.
•My butt still hurts from the 3.5 hours of biking yesterday
•The floor in my kitchen is one big puddle
•I biked to the Toyoda station and took the TRAIN to Hachioji
•I didn't get lost
•I was early for Japanese class
•My teacher was late (different teacher than yesterday)
•I biked BACK from the Toyoda station
•It took me approximately *7 minutes* (not yesterday's 20)
•I didn't get lost.
Wednesday June 11, 1997: 11pm
Today I had my second calligraphy lesson which was great! I got to Sensei's house at around 6:30 (grabbing some most-unhealthy dinnner along the way from the am-pm) and we sat down for ocha (traditional Japanese tea) and Japanese treats. I have a feeling that she'll be giving me something new each time I go, which is neat. Anyways, she told me that the tea leaves are the same flavouring as what is used to make soba (traditional Japanese noodle dish) - at least, I *think* that's what she said, but hey, in Japanese, who knows! So we talked about lots of things - she showed me pictures fo her trip to Hong Kong, and her daughters and granddaughter - and of her friends in the States. It was fun! Then at about 7:30 we started the calligraphy. First I learnt the character dai (big), and then chu (small), and then the hiragana for inu (dog). They were really difficult ones, I think, even though they look really simple.
Another one of her students came by - I think she's more of a beginner than the other ones. She stayed for about an hour. I, on the other hand, was there for 3! And I found out the price... dum dee dum dum dum... 3,000 yen a month!! ($40) Wow! That's absolutely fabulous! She said that because I'm only here for a year, she'd make it cheaper. Yeah! Oh, and she has a friend who would like to play tennis sometime. That's cool!
Thursday June 12, 1997: 9pm
Finally - a night off! Gosh, these game shows are really funny. I don't even know if a contestant actually wins at the end... it may all be just for the fun of the game. And boy do they ever have fun!
Today was my turn to lead the daily hirukai (lunch-time meeting).. I decided that I would attempt it in Japanese. I put in a valiant effort and made a fool out of myself, but that's OK. I was nervous. I tripped over the whiteboard about 3 times during my talk. I forgot how to pronounce the kanji's I put up (if anything makes you look stupid...), and well, that's about it!
I talked about Waterloo, ya know, a bit of history, a couple of facts, our faculty structure, term structure, course requirements - and then about the student life. That last part went OK. I'm just glad it's over - umm - until next month!!
Oh, and after the meeting Miyasaka-san said "Alexa-san, Japanese lesson". So he told me what I'd said wrong during the meeting. That's good because I reallyl didn't know what I was saying.
Other than that, I'm trying to fix a stupid bug, but I can't find it! And since Hirabayashi-san is in Hirooka, I can't ask him for help. Sucks to be me!
Friday June 13, 1997: 8:30am
Wow! What a nice day! I could see Fuji-san again this morn, although not so clearly. It's weird - people here run in full clothing - I'm talking pants, long-sleeved shirt, hat, and sometimes even gloves! This is insane! Outrageous! Someone should tell these people that it's 24C out and sunny. I feel somewhat indecent in my shorts and t-shirt. Ah well, they'll get used to me, cuz I'm sure not going to pretend it's winter!
Oh yeah, and not only do they bike with umbrellas in the rain, but the women bike with PARASOLS (now that's a flash from the past) in the sun! Wow! Actually, I'm pretty sure that's why they bundle up when they run - it's to protect themselves from the sun. Not because of cancer or anything, but I believe that a tanned face/hand/arm means you're a farmer or peasant (from olden times), so they like to stay pale. Actually, I bought some lotion about 2 weeks ago, and when I got it home I realized I'd bought lotion with "whitening agents". Ha ha! Supposedly it alters your pigmentation or something. So if I come back to Canada looking like Michael Jackson, I'll know why!!
Saturday June 14, 1997: 2:20am
Well, I had a great day! Let's see... at the daily meeting it was Miyasaka-san's turn to lead, and when he turned over the white-board for his speech, it was all in English! Yeah, I guess my Japanese speech yesterday prompted him to attempt his in English. Cool. He spoke about the Kabuki theatre, which is neat because I was curious about it. He said that he went to a theatre in Ginza (area in Tokyo) last week (I think the name of the theatre was Kabukiza), to watch a show, but it was his first time going, and the only reason he went was because he had free tickets. Well, he explained it - it's a Japanese style of play with only men actors, but hey DO play women's roles. And he said that the main actor in the kabuki play that he saw is considered to play a woman better than a woman - and he believes it! He said that 1st floor tickets were 14,000 yen ($170), 2nd floor tickets were 10,000 yen ($120), 3rd floor tickets were 4,000 yen ($50) and the standing tickets were around 700 - 2,000 yen ($10 - $25). Hmm... he said that he had the cheaper tickets, and they were fine. And he suggested that everyone go see a kabuki play at least once, so I think I will! It would be fun, I think.
Later in the afternoon I had a meeting with Hirabayashi-san and Gupta-san about the product release schedule. They've moved up the date again -- they want the final release version by Dec 24th. Ack! That's Christmas! I don't particularly want to spend my Xmas eve at the office - not like I have anything better to do, of course. Naw - Sariya's supposed to be here, so I don't want to be working!
Oh, the whiteboard is the coolest contraption. Once Hirabayashi-san had written out the whole schedule on the board, and we were basically done the meeting, he pressed a button on this attachment to the board and this huge vertical bar passed over the board real slow and _photocopied_ the board. I'm serious - a printout of the board just rolled right out of the attachment machine. I was in awe! What a cool contraption!
I left work early today to go meet Simon, who was arriving at the Tachikawa station at 5:10, about. We met pretty easily by the fare adjustment booths - that's a good place to meet. After a bit of discussion, we decided to go into Shinjuku, as opposed to stating in Tachikawa. The trains are pretty crowded at this time on a Friday. We just about missed the stop - I mean, I actually had to PUSH the doors open in order to get out. *whew*.. for a second I thought I was a goner... OK, I didn't, but I didn't think I was superman!
So Simon showed me this great discount CD store nearby, and we spent a good chunk of time just wandering around in there. Wow, tons of selections. I'll have to tell Jon that I saw the "Ben's Fold Five" CD. Now *that* is random. Hey, and Simon said that SLOAN is big here! Wow! I saw there new CD, so I don't doubt it. That's cool. Oh, ther was this really good CD taht Simon had me listen to - it was really funky! Quite unlike anything I've heard before. I've forgotten the name already though, I'll have to ask him later.
There were just loads of people in Shinjuku! Simon was telling me how all the Japanese tennage girls look alike - they all dye their hair, dress the same, and put on fake tans, etc. It's funny, but I'd never thought about that. But once he mentioned it.. yeah, I could see it. But I honestly believe that the Japanese are a damn good-looking race when they're young. I don't mean to be stereotypical, but I really think that the girls are beautiful, and the guys are cute. But once they turn 50... it's straight downhill.
Anyways, we wandered a bit around Shinjuku, which was neat. I like that place.. it's nice and busy. But that's one of the places in Tokyo where I've been told it's not safe to walk alone late at night because it's very near the red light district.
Next we decided to go to Shibuya, which is supposed to be great for the younger generation's nitelife. Sounds perfect! It'll be cheaper than Rappongi and less sleazy! So Shibuya's got a place where everyone meets -- it's near this statue of a dog. Simon explained the story to me: it seems that the dog's owner was put in jail, and this dog went and sat outside the jailhouse everyday, waiting for his owner to emerge from the building. He befriended the guards and stuff, and they used to feed him dinner and the likes. Well, the dog waited there until his master got out, so they built a statue to honour his faithfulness. Neat.
Shibuya's a cool place. Lots of young people around. Lots of shops with cheap watches, vintage clothing, etc. Oh, we saw these really great goggles... the kind they used to wear flying propellor planes!! ha ha!! Many, many Italian restaurants. And tons of other things of interest! So we walked around for awhile, and then decided to grab some dinner at some Italian place. Little did I realize taht this was a Pronto - the same chain that Jason and I got our pizza at. So, it should come as no surprise that I ordered pizza, but I opted for the Gorgonzola pizza instead of the salad pizza, thinking that THIS one would be real pizza with cheese and sauce. Aahhh, once again, I shouldn't expect the usual! This was just cheese on a pizza crust - but no sauce! Ah well, it was still pizza, and hence yummy. Mmmmmm, and I had a tequila sunrise. Gosh, I haven't had one of those since Gr. 12, but it's so good! Well, we spent lots of time there chatting (actually, waiting for the bill, but it was at our table all along!) and it was lots of fun. Oh, he had me try some kind of pancake-ball thing with some strange sauce. It looked wierd, but it was good. Don't remember what it was called though. But I have to be careful because supposedly they make something very similar, but with octopus on the inside. Yuck!
It was almost 10 by the time we left, so we decided to seek out one of the many clubs that are supposed to be around there. So we wandered and wandered, but just couldn't find a club *anywhere*. Well, actually, we found a club, but it wasn't our type (the clue was the poster of nude women inside the entrance). There were many of those type of clubs, but the ones we wanted just weren't meant for us tonight, I guess. We couldn't find them anywhere! Tons of people... but where are they going? So instead we stopped off at a Kirin bar, to drink some Kirin beer (well, what else?) It was cool - we got SEATED by someone. At a bar! Wow. So I got to try the Kirin beer - cool. Let's see.. I had the Lager, which was good - different from your regular Canadian beer, though. Hmm.. I also had the half dark/half light beer, and it was good too. I tried some of Simon's "brew meister" (I thought it would be worth getting just for the name) which was really good. This ended up being a good place to go, it was fun. But it closed at midnight. Wow, that's pretty early, I guess. So now I'm home - kinda tired.
7:15pm
Well I was woken up at 11 this morning by someone ringing my doorbell. I looked at the time and thought "Nuh uh, *I'm* not getting that, it's too early!" and went back to sleep. Yeah!
Today was beautiful weather - hot and sunny and clear. I decided that I was going to bike to Hachioji. Yes, I decided I was GOING to bike to Hachioji and master the route to my Japanese lesson, even if it meant getting lost for hours on end. I was DETERMINED to get it right!
So I set out - and I went along the Asakawa right from the start (none of this staying by the tracks thing anymore), and I managed to get to the Hachioji station in under 45 minutes, only getting lost about once. Wow! That sure beats 3 hours!!
At Hachioji I found a "Recycle Shop" which is just a second hand store. I checked out the VCRs, but they were still pretty expensive. But there was a small couch in there for 4,800 yen ($55) which I'm thinking about getting. It's not exactly classy, but it would abe nice to have for a year. They also have some guitars in the store that were very reasonably priced - between 4,000 and 6,000 yen ($50 - $70) Some of them were in rough shape, but they still play. Oh, I guess I don't need a second guitar.
OK, my ride back to the Epson building took me HALF AN HOUR. Hello? How did I get so lost on Monday? I don't understand!! Well, now I know that I can bike to my lessons, and have time to spare. Dare I try again on Monday? Hmm.. for the first time, I got whistled at today - twice. And twice I got the "hey there" (in English!). And last night on my walk home a guy stopped his car beside me and asked me where I was heading... strange that this should all happen to me in the span of a day, but I've never had any trouble before.
I got my pictures developped! Cooool. They're OK - not spectacular. I'll have to scan them in today.
Next Episode -->
<-- Last Episode